Make It Better
by metatmidnight
Summary: "Well, the new American girl had certainly made a lasting impression on everyone, with her seemingly bubbly personality and pretty face, but there was something off. Fabian could tell." Season 1 au, mystery included
1. Chapter 1

"Do you think I should just tell Fabian how I feel?" Joy nervously asked her best friend Patricia as they stood by their lockers, waiting for the first bell to ring. "I want to, but what if he doesn't want to date me? Then what do I do? I could ruin everything."

Patricia had grown tired of her constant worrying and wondering over such a simple task. She almost slammed her locker shut and looked at Joy, trying to hide her annoyance. "Honestly, I don't think you have anything to lose either way. Fabian, being the nerd we all know and love, will surely bask in the fact that even you, someone the exact opposite of him in every single way, would even want to do anything that resembled dating him. Just tell him."

When Joy looked like she was going to respond with something else, Patricia was more than willing to stop her. "And now I'm done with this conversation."

"Ever so helpful," Joy rolled her eyes and watched her walk away.

Maybe it was just the paranoia talking, but Joy was terrified to reveal her true feelings to her best friend of three years, the first boy she had ever fallen in love with. Even if there was a shred of hope, something to push her to believe he felt even remotely interested in her, her clouded judgement and insecurities would somehow convince her otherwise.

The bell finally rang, and she was forced to put these thoughts away for now. Unfortunately, she and Fabian sat right next to each other so there was no way she was ever going to focus on anything. Any other day would have been fine, but now that she had begun thinking of wanting to tell him, it quite literally would be hell. She sighed and walked into the classroom.

There he sat, showing her his usual smile as she sat down next to him. Joy could feel her heart beginning to beat faster, and she spent the entire class wishing it was over.

About an hour after class ended, Joy had mustered up enough confidence to ask Fabian to meet her back at Anubis House for lunch. He kindly accepted, and now the two of them were on their way over.

Joy was able to feel herself relax as they talked about a lot of different things, like the French test they were going to study for later. "I'm so gonna fail." Joy groaned at the thought of her overall grade for the semester going down. She was by no means a French expert, but she did well enough to not be failing. "I mean, why do we even need to learn this? I don't even think I'll ever need it."

"Well, maybe not, but I think it would be cool to know another language. Anyway, I'm sure you'll do fine. At this point it's just memorization." Fabian responded as he opened the door to their house. "You want to practice a bit now?"

"Sure." She nodded, internally cursing at herself for not knowing how to say 'I like you' in French. How romantic would that be? And that way if he didn't feel the same, she could play it off as her not knowing what the words meant.

"Okay, I'll start. Bonjour mon amie, qu'est-ce que tu fais?" His voice made her melt. She wasn't even paying attention to what he said at this point, just admiring the way he made her feel. In this moment she wondered why she had never told him before. It would be so easy, all she had to do was open her mouth.

He must have noticed her silence while they were about to enter the kitchen, because he turned around and said her name. "Joy? You there?"

She blinked and shook her head to break herself out of the trance he unknowingly put on her. She could feel the heat on her cheeks as she replied, "Uh, pardon, mon ami?" He laughed slightly and that made her relax a little bit.

"Sorry, I guess I kind of just zone out whenever I hear it. It'll feel like we're still in Mrs. Andrews' class." She explained as they continued walking through the door to the kitchen.

"There's still a few days before the exam, I'll help you study until then." He promised, being the good person that he was. Joy couldn't have been happier. Studying alone together sounded like heaven. Maybe then something would happen between them like she always wanted?

"Thanks. I'd really like that."

* * *

Crying seemed like the normal thing to do in Nina's situation, seeing as she'd traveled thousands of miles away from home to a school she didn't even really want to go to. Trudy, the housemother of Anubis House, gave Nina a tour and then showed her her room. She was sharing a room with someone named Amber, who she hoped would be nice. They wouldn't be able to meet until later though, as Nina arrived in the middle of the day. That went for the rest of her housemates too, and she was a bit anxious to know what they were like.

The tears began to fall after Trudy left her to unpack. She had been holding in her emotions all day. It almost felt surreal to be in another country, thousands of miles away from her grandmother whom she had never spend a night away from. Well, she was going to have to bear this new feeling of homesickness for a while despite her desperate internal pleas to forget this and go back home. She would just have to learn to live with it for now.

The school didn't seem that bad from what she read online. It seemed like a pretty prestigious one. Out of the thousands of applicants the school received, very few were admitted in. And that was within England as well, so the chances for an American getting in were even lower. So, you can imagine the shock she felt when she read her acceptance letter.

Since then she had been glued to the stack of papers that were sent to her a few weeks later, trying to learn everything she could ahead of time. School uniforms were mandatory, something she wasn't crazy about, but at least she wouldn't have to worry about picking out clothes every morning. Surely it would save her a bit of time, but it would be something she had to get used to.

Once she finished unpacking everything, she laid down on her new bed and pulled out her phone. She might as well kill some time waiting for her housemates to come back home. Hopefully they were nice. Hopefully they didn't give her too much attention. That was the last thing she wanted, especially since she was going to feel like such an outsider as it is.

She was only able to lie still for so long, though. A feeling of restless came over her, so she decided to go explore the house on her own. There were a few rooms she was curious about, such as the attic and the cellar, that were forbidden for students. That made her wonder even more. Was there something in them that no one was supposed to know about? The temptation proved to be too much for her, and she was rerouting her exploration by going straight to the attic door. Her hand wrapped around the door handle and turned it. Locked, of course.

Just as she was about to try opening it again, the sound of a door opening and footsteps made her panic. What if that was Victor, the scary owner of the house who specifically told her that beyond that door was not to be entered? Fearing the worst, she turned around to see if anyone was there.

Much to Nina's relief, it was not any sort of authority figure. It was a boy and a girl, both with a similar brown hair color, wearing what she assumed to be the school uniform. They were staring at her, probably wondering who she was. Maybe they hadn't been told there was a new student coming. Even though the timing couldn't have been worse, she felt the need to share her introduction. "Um, hello, I'm Nina." She did her best to sound as enthusiastic as possible, with a smile. "I'm a new student."

"An American?" The girl whispered to the boy next to her, who looked just as confused as she did.

Nina made eye contact with them for a second until her eyes moved towards the figure coming around the corner. She felt the fear rise in her once she recognized the tan coat as being Victor's.

"Did I not make the rules clear enough for you, Miss Martin? I will not tolerate you snooping around, especially on your first day. Back to your room please." He left no room for her to protest. "And as for you two, go back to school now if you don't want detention."

They quickly hurried away, but not before Nina and the boy glanced at each other one last time.

* * *

**A/n: Hi, I've really wanted to write a proper Fabina story for a while. This is like my version of season 1, with Joy still here obviously haha. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Wait, you're telling me there's a new girl back at the house?" Jerome was the first to react to the news that Fabian and Joy shared when they walked into the classroom. "And she's already gotten in trouble?" He smirked. "I think I'm liking this girl already."

"But don't you think it's weird, why would they let an American come here?" Joy responded, still a little bewildered from their encounter with the girl.

Mara spoke up. "Maybe she got good grades or something. It's really not that unusual."

Patricia rolled her eyes. "Great. I just can't wait to meet her."

"Have they said who's her roommate yet? I'm not sure I'm comfortable sharing with a complete stranger." Amber was holding a mirror up to her face, probably checking her makeup.

"Obviously she's sleeping on the floor." Alfie joked, making some of them laugh.

Joy wasn't seeing the humor in this situation. Why add another girl to the house this late in the semester? Why didn't she start when everyone else did? It was just annoying. And there wasn't like there was any room for her, anyway. There were only two beds in each room, and they were all occupied. Patricia and Joy were in one room, and Mara and Amber in the other. Unless Victor and Trudy did some rearranging. She was irritated at the thought of someone else touching her stuff.

"Why don't we give her a chance? None of us have even met her yet." Fabian tried convincing the group, which surprised Joy.

"I thought you two already did. What was her name again?" Mick paused in an attempt to remember.

Fabian wasted no time answering. "It's Nina."

"Right, right." Mick nodded. "What'd you think of her?"

"Weird, if you ask me. She was poking around the attic door. Who does that?" Joy stated, showing her distaste for her.

"Well I thought she seemed nice." Fabian ignored Joy's words. "A little awkward, but we barely had a conversation with her."

"I'm sure she's nice. Fabian's right, we should give her chance. Especially since she's new, she must already feel like she doesn't belong." Mara said. "So, let's all do our best to make her feel welcome, alright?"

Joy could see her point and nodded in agreement when Mara looked at her. She would give this girl a chance and be nice. Surely that wouldn't kill her.

* * *

Classes dragged on through the day. At one point Joy could feel herself falling asleep during math, but luckily Patricia had shaken her back to her completely alert state. She paid attention for the remainder of her day and went back to house along with the rest of her housemates. They were all curious to see what she was like and couldn't wait another second. Joy wished she felt that way, but this was starting to feel like a tedious task. Trudy would make everyone introduce themselves one by one, and she had already met the girl. There was no excitement.

Once they all got to the house, Trudy came to them and said to stay in the common room. Joy wanted to sigh, but she stayed quiet and obeyed like everyone else. It was a good two minutes of awkward silence before Trudy and the girl entered.

"Hi, I'm Nina Martin, it's so nice to meet you all." The girl had a smile on her face, and she seemed much more energetic than she had been earlier. "I hope I won't be too much of a bother for anyone."

"Of course you won't be." Trudy reassured her. "Everyone is excited to meet you."

Trudy eyed the group, as if she were signaling for them to join the conversation. Jerome began the introductions, and they ended with Mick, who left quickly since he wanted to get in a work out for the day.

"Did you really get detention on your first day?" Alfie asked while Jerome silently laughed to himself, looking forward to her answer.

Nina shook her head. "No, just another lecture." She was surprisingly upbeat for someone who received a scolding from the big, scary, guardian of Anubis House. "And an old toothbrush, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with it."

Joy laughed to herself. The poor girl had no idea what she was in for.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Patricia said, an amused expression on her face.

"I'll explain it to you later." Trudy tapped Nina's shoulder affectionately. "Are you hungry? Dinner's not for a few hours, but if you want something, I can make it for you now."

Joy noticed that the rest of her housemates looked like they were getting ready to leave, grabbing their bags and standing up. She did the same, already tired of this whole situation. But she'd never hear the end of it back at school. Especially since she was American.

"I'm okay, thanks." Nina was still smiling. Looking around at everyone's faces one last time, she bid her goodbye, losing her grin. "I'll see you all at dinner. It was nice meeting you."

It was quiet for a moment after she left. Joy could tell Nina didn't feel she was welcomed, which was kind of true, and the guilt was already forming. Then she shook it off. Whatever, it wasn't like Nina was trying to get to know them or anything. A simple introduction and she was already by herself.

"Oh, that's right, I almost forgot." Trudy broke the silence. "Amber, Nina will be rooming with you. Mara, would you be okay with moving into Joy and Patricia's room?"

"What? But there's no room-" Patricia began protesting, only to be cut off by Trudy.

"They've already added another bed this morning. It might be a bit cramped, but I'm sure you'll make it work."

It's not like they had any choice either, Joy thought.

* * *

Dinner didn't start out as bad as Nina thought it would have. Trudy brought in another chair for her and she sat in between Fabian and Alfie. She was surprised to see how quickly she had remembered all their names, being that there was eight of them.

Her conversations were brief, mostly with Mara trying to make her feel included by asking her about life in America. Nina wasn't sure if she was genuinely curious about it, but she was grateful that Mara made an effort. That's more than she can say for the other three girls. Although Amber didn't seem as cold as Patricia and Joy.

"Do you miss your parents?" Mara asked, and Nina froze. "I know when I first came here, I bawled my eyes out for like a week straight. I can't even imagine how much harder it is for you since you're from another country."

"Yeah, you know, Alfie still cries for his mom every single night before he goes to sleep," Jerome let out a laugh when Alfie retaliated by throwing a piece of lettuce at him.

"Please don't start another food fight, this dress costs more than everything you own combined." Amber picked up a few napkins from the table to protect what little parts of her dress she could. Mara cleared her throat and looked at Amber, gesturing with her head to Nina. Amber looked confused for a second, then realized what she meant. "Sorry Nina, you can speak now."

"It's okay. And actually, I live with my grandmother. My parents passed away when I was young." Nina hoped she wasn't oversharing, even though most people asked about her parents anyway when she only mentioned her grandmother. "I do miss her a lot." She'd give anything to see her at that moment.

"So why would you leave her all alone? Or did she send you away to get rid of you?"

Nina looked up, unaware of whose voice it was. Not that it mattered to her. The social exhaustion she was feeling combined with the ever-so hostile environment was more than enough to make her move her chair back and leave in a hurry.

Would it ever get any better?

* * *

**A/n: I hope this was good, I'm worried it's not haha. And I know there haven't been any Fabian/Nina moments yet, but those are coming next! I'm excited, they're my favorite. I hope you enjoyed!**


	3. Chapter 3

After a night of constant tossing and turning, Nina was almost relieved to hear her alarm at six in the morning. The opposite could be said for Amber, reaching out from underneath the covers to silence the blaring sound. Nina took this as a sign that she should get in the bathroom before anyone else does, or else she'd be waiting forever. The wait for a shower last night was about a half hour and that was only with a few of her housemates ahead of her.

Nina picked up the uniform that had been placed at the edge of her bed yesterday by Trudy and left to change in the bathroom. Before entering, her eyes were drawn to the attic door. A risky idea was forming in her head. No one was around to stop her from trying to get the door open, though she didn't have a plan for unlocking it yet. And by this point she had been told to stay away from it twice now. If someone spotted her hanging around it again, she'd be toast. She had to fight any urge to go near it.

Once she finished changing, she eyed herself in the mirror. It didn't look as strange on her as she thought it would. The students she saw wearing the uniforms yesterday had looked much better in them than she did. Speaking of which, Nina now had names to their faces; Joy and Fabian. From how close they were standing next to each other when they met her, Nina assumed they were together. How nice that must be. They looked good together.

For a moment, she wondered if there was anyone here for her. Back home she'd been asked out once or twice, but she wasn't interested enough in the idea of dating. Instead, her focus was more on school. Good grades were more important; they got her here, after all. With this mind, she pushed out any thought of dating. She was here to get a good education, that was all. And she was leaving the country at the end of the term. A relationship with her was doomed to fail, so why bother?

"You done yet, newbie? You're not the only one in this house, you know."

Nina's head turned to the door that was being pounded on. How long she had been staring at her reflection in the mirror, she had no idea. It must have been longer than she thought. Feeling both apologetic and annoyed at whoever's voice it was, Nina opened the door to see Patricia standing there with her arms crossed.

"All yours." Nina smiled before moving out of the red-haired girl's way. There was some more noise in the hall, so she decided to go downstairs to get some breakfast instead of trying to stir up any awkward conversations.

The familiar scent of bacon and pancakes hit Nina as she walked into the dining room, making her hungry. Since everyone else seemed like they had just gotten out of bed, she wasn't expecting to see anyone there. She saw someone standing near the kitchen window, his back facing towards her. When he turned around, Nina recognized him as Fabian. They locked eyes for a moment, neither of them speaking.

"Um," Fabian started, "Would you like to eat with me?"

Nina wondered if Joy would be okay with this, them eating all alone together. Surely she wasn't that kind of girlfriend, the one who didn't even let her boyfriend look at other girls without it being a problem. Nina sent him a smile. "Thanks, that would be nice."

"Great." He sat on the right of her when she took the seat at the end, the one closest to the door. "How are you finding everything so far, okay I hope?"

"Not sure yet, actually. I haven't even attempted to find my way over to the school, let alone any of the classrooms." Nina was dreading the inevitable embarrassment of getting lost. Then another thought popped into her head, and she spoke again before Fabian could respond. "By the way, could you tell me what's up with that toothbrush Victor gave me?"

"Oh, that," His tone changed. "Basically, you'll be cleaning the toilets with it. The two in this house, and the ones at school. It's not fun."

Her eyes widened. Nina had never heard of such a punishment. "Just for trying to go in the attic?"

Fabian nodded. "He takes it really seriously. No one's allowed up there."

"Figures," Nina couldn't help the annoyance in her voice. "I guess I'll be doing that during lunch time."

He laughed, not mockingly from what she could tell, and she smiled as well.

When he stopped, he spoke again. "Good luck with that. And would you like to walk over with me? I can help show you around."

"Wow, you're being so nice to me. Thank you, I would appreciate that a lot." Nina was so glad there was at least someone with a decent attitude towards her in this house, besides Trudy. But then she felt odd. This was someone else's boyfriend offering to help Nina out, with his girlfriend nowhere to be seen. "Wait, are you sure Joy would be okay with that?"

Fabian looked confused. "Why wouldn't she be?"

"I thought you and her are-"

"Fabian, could you come help me set the table?" Trudy's warm voice called from the kitchen, causing a halt in their conversation.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" He called back. "I'll be right back, okay? Hold that thought."

Nina's only response was a smile and a nod. She still felt guilty for some reason, as if she wasn't supposed to be talking to him. There was just this nagging feeling that wouldn't go away. Almost unable to bear it, she stood up and went back upstairs to her room. Amber was nowhere to be seen, so Nina assumed she was in the bathroom. Nina picked up her bag and glanced one last time at herself in the mirror on Amber's vanity, adjusting her hair.

She went back down the stairs and opened the front door, only to pause and turn around when she heard her name being called. "Nina? You're leaving already?" It was Trudy. "Why, school doesn't start for another hour, sweetie. Breakfast is ready too, you haven't eaten yet."

"Oh, um, I think I'll be fine. I need to go get myself familiar with the school and everything anyways." Nina was actually itching to get out of the house for a bit. So far everything was about her housemates, and she did not want to cause any drama at breakfast today like what happened with dinner the previous night.

Fabian appeared at the door of the common room, holding two bagels. "I'll walk over with you. Here," he handed her one, "You can eat it on the way."

"Well, off you two go then. You're in good hands, Nina. Good luck today!" Trudy waved as they walked out the door together.

For some reason, Nina believed her one hundred percent.

She was in good hands.

* * *

**A/n: Yayyy our first Fabina moment! Lol I hope this chapter was good, I wanted to get it out asap bc I started a new job, and I also have college and some other stuff. And to the guest that asked, yes the cup will be a part of this story! The whole mystery will be, just a little different from the show haha. I hope you will look forward to the next chapter! Thank you for the lovely reviews everyone. They inspire me so much!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?" Mrs. Daphne Andrews asked her colleague of twenty years nervously. "How are we going to know who's really chosen?"

Mr. Eric Sweet took off his reading glasses and placed them down on his desk. "You don't have to worry about it, Daphne. By the time the chosen hour comes around, we'll know. You have to trust Victor a little more."

"That's exactly why I'm worrying. I don't think he knows what he's doing. Bringing in an American girl just because of her birthday when we know already that it must be Joy?"

"The Chosen One was born on the seventh hour, but we don't know which." Mr. Sweet responded. "It's either in the morning or the afternoon, no one knows for sure. That's why we need them both here. If it turns out we're wrong, we can have the other girl assemble the cup instead."

Mrs. Andrews sighed. "I suppose you're right. I just don't like the idea of involving another child's life."

"It's not like they will be in any grave danger," Mr. Sweet did his best to reassure the agitated woman. "Both girls will be safe, unless you-know-who comes around. But even that isn't likely to happen. Victor has it all taken care of."

"Of course." Mrs. Andrews agreed. "I hope it all goes to plan. And what was the American girl's name again?"

Mr. Sweet put his glasses back on and looked down at the paper. "Nina Martin."

* * *

Fabian was confused by the new girl, to say the least. One minute she was smiling and accepting his offer of being walked over, but then the next she was bolting out the door without him. Did she always change her mind so quickly, he wondered? Either way, it was nice to be walking with her. He wanted to do everything he could to make her feel included after Joy's insensitive question last night.

When he turned his head to look at her, he saw her taking a bite out of the bagel he had given her. It made him slightly smile. "Is it okay that it's plain? I wasn't sure what you liked on it." He tried making conversation.

"It's completely fine. Thanks again," she sent him a smile back. "I'm sorry for almost leaving without you earlier. It's just that I don't want to cause any problems between you and Joy." She sighed. "I feel like I'm already causing enough drama."

Fabian stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean?"

"Aren't you two together?" Nina turned around and stopped walking as well.

"What?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. No one had ever suspected him and Joy of dating, not that he knew of at least.

"Well you guys always seem to be near each other, like really close so I just figured that you must be. Unless, am I wrong?"

"Yes. I mean, no, no we're not dating. We're just friends." He quickly clarified.

"Oh." She said quietly.

"Hey, Nina!" A voice came from behind them. Nina didn't recognize it yet, so she had to turn around to see who was calling her name.

"Jerome? What are you doing here? I've never seen you up on time." Fabian said as Jerome came closer to them.

"Yeah, normally I wouldn't be, but we've got a new special guest today." Jerome smiled teasingly at Nina. "And a package for her. It was in the kitchen, oddly enough. Trudy told me to run it over to her."

Nina was handed a small box that had her name written on it in cursive. She hadn't ever seen it before, and she was sure she didn't know anyone well enough here to be receiving gifts so soon. "What could this be?"

"This isn't one of your pranks, is it?" Fabian questioned, looking skeptical of the whole situation.

"No, it isn't, Rutter. Why would I give up breakfast to come all the way here if it wasn't something important?"

While the two boys argued back and forth, Nina opened the box to see for herself what it was. She gasped when she saw it was a necklace. The pendant was in the shape of an eye, with the iris a bright red color. Nina swore she saw it glowing. She looked up and shut it before either of them could see.

She saw them both looking at her expectantly. Desperate to keep it hidden for now, she said the first thing that came to her mind. "It was nothing. Just a note from my grandmother. I guess I forgot it in the kitchen this morning."

"Anticlimactic, if you ask me. I'll leave you two to your date now." Jerome slapped Fabian's shoulder a couple of times before winking at Nina. He left without another word.

"Wow, he's very, um…"

"I know." Fabian understood what she meant, shaking his head incredulously. "Sometimes I wonder about him."

They laughed and continued on their way to the school. Once they arrived, Nina could spot everyone from her house in the hallways. They all stood near their lockers, which reminded her that she needed to speak to a man named Mr. Sweet about getting one for herself. Since she didn't have one yet, she followed Fabian to his.

"Our first class is that door over there." He pointed to it as he shut his locker and locked it with his key. "Actually, do you need to put anything in here too? You can share mine for now if you like."

Nina didn't have any textbooks yet, but she didn't want to turn him down. It might feel like a bigger rejection. She opened her bag and dug through it, searching for anything she could. Her bag was empty though, save for a few notebooks she needed for classes. "Actually, do you mind if I leave this here with you?" She was referring to the box she had received from Jerome.

Fabian nodded and opened his locker back up. She placed it inside and the two waited for the first bell to ring.

After a few minutes it did, and Nina was starting to feel as nervous as she was the previous day. She'd be introduced to new teachers today when she was still exhausted from learning everyone else's names and faces. Or she might even be forced to introduce herself in front of everyone, which was the last thing she wanted to do. She did her best to walk in the classroom as fast as possible to avoid any attention being put on her. Unfortunately for her, Fabian took the seat closest to the teacher's desk and she wanted to sit next to him.

Nina didn't look up from her desk once she saw an older woman walk into the room, figuring that she must be the teacher.

"I know you all know about the exam on Friday, which is two days from now, so I trust you're all studying."

"That's Mrs. Andrews, she teaches English and French." Fabian whispered to Nina, who nodded in response.

"Ah, that reminds me. We do have a new student staying at Anubis house. Nina, why don't you stand up and tell us a little bit about yourself?"

Nina did as she was asked and walked to the front of the room, ignoring all the doubts in her head. She only hoped that she didn't embarrass herself like she thought she would. She put on a smile the whole time, not paying any attention to some of the cold stares she was getting. She was looking past the tears she could feel forming in her eyes for no apparent reason other than she felt so alone up there.

She finished with a smile and went back to her seat, letting her frown finally appear.

Fabian had taken a noticing to those small details, while everyone else clapped when she was done.

Well, the new American girl had certainly made a lasting impression on everyone, with her seemingly bubbly personality and pretty face, but there was something off. Fabian could tell.

* * *

**A/n: Hi everyone, I hope this chapter's good. I rewrote it like three times because I felt so insecure about it. But I'm happy with it, and I hope you are too! And I'm so sorry for the slow updates, I have more time now that school is done. Thank you for reading and reviewing as always, your reviews make me smile**


	5. Chapter 5

"Did I completely embarrass myself up there?" Nina couldn't help asking Fabian for a review of her performance, mostly because she knew he wasn't going to be too harsh on her. They were waiting by his locker for the next bell to ring and Nina was still reeling from her self-perceived awful public introduction that she had to give in her pervious class.

"Definitely not. You did way better than I would have." Fabian answered, giving her the reassurance she needed. "I doubt anyone was really paying attention since it's so early in the morning, anyway. But you were fine."

"I see you paid attention." Nina coyly pointed out, growing more comfortable with talking to him. He seemed warm-hearted and friendly, even a little soft-spoken like her. They could probably become good friends for the rest of her time there.

"Yeah, well, maybe I wanted to know a bit more about you."

Nina felt her cheeks grow hot and looked away, only to awkwardly share a split second of eye contact with Patricia. Nina hoped there would be some time for the two of them to talk later on. The same went for Joy, since there was obviously something she had against Nina based on her attitude the previous night. Maybe it was a misunderstanding of some sort. They'd talk it out and everything would end up being fine for the rest of the year. This was all depending on whether Nina had the guts to go up to them and ask what their problem was, though. And she wasn't feeling all that confident yet.

"Oh, have you spoken to Joy at all yet?"

The sudden question made Nina turn back to Fabian, who must have noticed her looking in the direction that Patricia and Joy were standing.

"Um, no. I thought it would be better not to. She clearly doesn't think highly of me." Nina tried to keep a positive tone in her voice.

He sighed. "I'm really sorry about that. I'm sure she'll apologize soon. She must have been in a bad mood yesterday. Not that it's any excuse, but an explanation I guess."

Nina had certainly hoped she'd get an apology, but she wasn't holding her breath. "It's fine, it's not like it's your fault."

Since they were standing around by his locker, Nina remembered the piece of jewelry she had mysteriously received. "Oh, by the way, do you think I could have my box back now? I didn't get a chance to read the note inside earlier." She kept up with the lie she had told Jerome and Fabian about having a note from her grandmother, when in reality she was trying to protect the necklace. Maybe it was given to her by mistake, or Jerome really was playing some kind of trick on her. Either way, she would love a closer look at it.

Fabian nodded and she thanked him for giving it back afterwards. They didn't have much more time to talk as the bell had finally rang, and he showed her where her next class was. It was biology with a man named Mr. Sweet (who also happened to be the principal), and Nina quickly learned that her other housemates had basically shared the same schedule. And luckily the classes weren't hard to find at all. The school was smaller than she had expected, so she no longer saw getting used to the school as a problem. That was one less thing to worry about.

Throughout the period Nina would look down at the opened box, in awe of the beauty of the revealed necklace. It was imperative that it stayed hidden, so she kept on her lap where the table acted as a shield for it. More than once she was tempted to wear it around her neck. Who wouldn't want to wear such a beautiful accessory? After all, it had been sent to her, joke or no joke. Being as gentle as possible, she slightly lifted the pendant and she was surprised to spot a white piece of paper folded underneath it.

"Your grandmother sent you that?" A sudden whisper was heard on her left while Mr. Sweet was lecturing the class about chromosomes.

Nina jumped and slammed the box shut, worried if anyone had seen the content in it. Her head turned in the direction that the whisper came in and she saw that it was just Fabian. "Sorry," she lowered her voice to the same volume, "You scared me."

"That I can see," he whispered back. It looked like he was trying to hold in a laugh. "I thought you said she sent you a note?"

"Um…" Nina had felt bad about lying, and it wasn't like she was any good at it either. Whatever she made up at this point he was sure to see through it. "Okay, I lied. I didn't actually get any note from her. I don't even know who sent this to me."

"What?" He said in a normal voice. The two looked around in panic to see if they had been heard by anyone else, but no one noticed. "Who would send you a necklace like that?"

"I'd love to know that to," she opened the box again and slipped the white square piece of paper out from under the pendant. She held it up for him to see. "I suppose this will tell us?"

Nina eagerly opened the paper up, careful to not make any sound or to accidentally rip it. Printed on it was just the address of Anubis house, followed by Nina's first and last name. No sender was mentioned at all.

"That's weird." Fabian commented, taking the paper into his hands to inspect it further. "Unless this is one of Jerome's pranks, this is kinda… creepy."

"Seriously creepy." Nina agreed.

Who could have sent it to her?

* * *

"Don't you think we should throw a party or something? To celebrate the new girl, I mean." Mick followed his girlfriend, Amber, to their usual table at lunch. Today it sat everyone except Fabian, Mara, and Nina. "It'd be a nice way of welcoming her after… what happened."

"Tell me about it, that was incredibly awkward last night." Amber placed her tray down on the table and taking her seat while Mick did the same. She looked around. "What do you guys think? It has to be a group effort, though. I'm not doing all the work. Especially since I just got my nails done."

"Why don't we make Joy head of our little welcoming committee then?" Jerome teased. "I'm sure Nina would love that."

Joy narrowed her eyes at him. "Shut up, Clarke. I'm going to apologize to her the next time I get the chance, so why don't you do it?"

"Because I have got better things to do than making sure some newbie feels like she's being included."

"Oh like what, pull some more unfunny pranks with Alfie? What a productive use of your time." Joy sarcastically replied.

"Hey! I take offense to that," Alfie held a hand over his heart, faking how crushed he was. "Our pranks are another form of art." He quickly got over it as he started stuffing his face with a bag of chips.

"No one's taking it seriously," Mick rolled his eyes, visibly frustrated. He moved his attention back to Amber. "I'll ask Mara if she'll help you plan it, Ambs. I know at least she'll be mature about it."

"Since when do you care so much about Nina, Mick?" Patricia shot back at him. "We've barely known her a day and everyone is already worshipping the ground she walks on."

"It's called being nice, something you might wanna try some day."

"Okay, okay," Amber put a hand on her boyfriend's. "Let's all just calm down. A party it is! This will be fun. You guys will see."

* * *

**A/n: Hi everyone! I'm so sorry these chapters take so long to come out. I'm such a perfectionist that I will literally rewrite a chapter if I'm not happy with it haha. I'm definitely feeling insecure about this one but I am proud of myself for writing it! Hopefully you guys like it! The mystery will be kicking off soon, within the next two chapters for sure. Thank you so much for reading**


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